Reviewed by Kat

TITLE: Comforting the Grump

SERIES: Forestville Silver Foxes (book 5)

AUTHOR: Nora Phoenix

PUBLISHER: Self Published

LENGTH: 293 pages

RELEASE DATE: January 17, 2025

BLURB:

I don’t do emotions or romantic entanglements. 

My life is simple: I work hard and I play hard, with anyone willing. I’m not discriminatory. And then I go home…alone.

Until my body decides to stop cooperating. Nothing is stirring anymore, and it scares me to death.

While navigating this issue, support comes from an unlikely source. Ennio, my best friend’s little brother, is sweet and sassy but also stubborn in his decision to be there for me. He’s the vibrant glittery sunshine to my grumpy black heart.

I don’t need him, of course, but I can’t deny it’s nice to have him around to comfort me. He has his own challenges to deal with, and somehow, we become friends. With excellent benefits.

But I’m not the right man for him. I’m too old, too dark, too set in my ways, Right?

Comforting the Grump is a small town, age gap MM romance in which the grumpiest grump falls for his best friend’s sunshiny little brother. This gay romance novel is the fifth book in the Forestville Silver Foxes series, a contemporary small town MM romance series featuring hot silver foxes and the men who fall in love with them. Each book can be read as a standalone.

REVIEW:

I was so excited to get to go back on another trip to the quaint town of Forestville and the silver foxes that reside there and all their friends.

Marnin Rosser knows that he’s not cut out for a relationship and the emotions that they involve…ever. He learned first hand, living with the mean drunk that was called his dad, that he didn’t deserve love. Hell, his own mother abandoned him to the abuser when he was just a toddler. His genes were so tainted that he just knew that no one deserved to be stuck with someone like him. He has spouted all the time “I don’t do emotions or romantic entanglements”! Unlike all his life long buddies, a life of love just isn’t in the cards and he has learned to make do with the hand he was dealt. But when a “problem” arises (or more appropriately doesn’t) scared doesn’t begin to describe the terror that filled him. But the support he gets to help him through his scare comes from a very surprising source packaged all shiny in glitter and full of vibrant color.

Although I haven’t read a lot of best friend’s little brother troupe this one hit all the marks. Maybe it was because of their ages and maturity. This wasn’t a twenty something bonking his best friend’s brother who is still in high school. These were men, the older was in his later forties and the best friend’s little brother was in his mid thirties. They were established in their chosen careers and settled in their own homes. They were men that worked well together and were of like minds. And they just “clicked” with their wants and needs. And the fact that Ennio was quite a bit younger didn’t mean that he wasn’t a match for Marnin. Ennio figured out Marnin and knew what he needed and truly wanted deep inside way before Marnin had a clue. But Ennio’s wisdom shone in his patience and the caring heart he had for his hurting friend. They just did it for me.

I loved that everyone that knew Marnin in Forestville knew that Marnin was all gruff and grumpy on the outside but was a giant marshmallow with a heart of gold on the inside. The fact that he gave Auden, his best friend, and his then wife Tricia, his sperm so they could have both of their amazing daughters showed what a wonderful man he is. Plus that he never felt like they were his in any way but treasured that they called him Uncle Marnin was so special and telling. And he got to be the uncle that spoiled them with expensive gifts but got to stay on the sidelines worked well for him. Joining with Ennio somehow filled in  the last piece of the puzzle to allow him, in his mind at least because he had always been in Auden and his family’s eyes, a permanent member of the Frant family.

I love this series and these men. They have reached an age of maturity where goals they had when they were younger have been achieved and what is important in life now comes first. And that importance is based on finding the man of your life and live a life filled with love and support. This series has this in aces!

RATING:

BUY LINKS:

Amazon